In its 14th Annual Global CEO Survey, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) finds that CEO confidence in future economic growth has nearly returned to pre-recession levels. Nearly 50 percent of the 1,201 CEOs surveyed said they were "very confident" in growth over the next year. Last year, only 31 percent made this statement.

The report gauged confidence across all continents. Executives in India, Austria, Colombia, Peru, China, Thailand, and Paraguay were especially positive on future growth. Western European CEOs were the least confident, attributable to the debt crisis. But 80 percent of German CEOs still said they were "very confident," an increase of nearly a fifth from last year.

The surveyed executives said innovation, talent, and cooperation with the government would drive growth internationally.